I am an emeritus professor from Cornell University and was a Commissioned Lay Preacher in the Presbyterian Church (USA). For many years I have followed the Daily Lectionary as printed in the Mission Yearbook of my church. For each day of a two-year cycle, the lectionary lists four psalms and three other scriptural passages--usually one from the Old Testament and two from the New Testament. My practice is to copy down a verse or two from one of the psalms and from each of the other three passages. After I have written out all four selections, I reflect upon them, rearrange their order, and incorporate them into a meditation. Sometimes I retain much of the original wording; sometimes all that remains of a selection is an idea that was stimulated when I read the original words. All selections are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. For the Daily Lectionary, see the link below.

October 17, 2007

I. Readings
Psalms 4, 15, 48
Jeremiah 37:3-21
1 Corinthians 14:13-25
Matthew 10:24-33

II. Selections
Psalm 15:1
O LORD, who may abide in your tent?
Who may dwell on your holy hill? ;

Jeremiah 37:17
Then King Zedekiah sent for [ Jeremiah], and received him. The king questioned him secretly in his house, and said, "Is there any word from the LORD?" Jeremiah said, "There is!" Then he said, "You shall be handed over to the king of Babylon."

1 Corinthians 14:15
What should I do then? I will pray with the spirit, but I will pray with the mind also; I will sing praise with the spirit, but I will sing praise with the mind also.

Matthew 10:29
" ...Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. ... " [ Jesus instructing his twelve before he sends them out on a mission]

III. Meditation: Questions and answers

Who may dwell with you?
We do not always receive
the answer we want to hear
when we ask you a question-
King Zedekiah surely did not.

How shall we pray to you-
with the mind or the spirit?
Paul allows for both,
but slants to the mind
(perhaps not our preference).

Who may abide in your tent?
Even two-for-a-penny sparrows.
At last an answer
we can live with,
and live by.

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